[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, hey, hello everybody. >> bill: what do you say? good morning everybody. it is a great big friday morning. friday, september 21. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. so good to see you today. good to have you with us as we take a look around washington d.c. around the country around the globe. find out what's going on and talk about it. you give us a call at 1-866-55-press. to join the conversation. at any time and here's the big

news on the political front. tim pawlenty, former presidential candidate for the republicans and one of the national cochairs of the romney campaign has quit the campaign in order to take a job as a lobbyist. now why wouldn't he wait another 46 days until after the election to quit? because he knows romney is a loser. tim pawlenty, the first rat to deserve the sinking -- to leave the sinking ship. first, here's all of the latest. today's current news update. standing by in los angeles lisa ferguson. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey, bill. good morning, everyone. now both candidates have had their turns at addressing america during the univision forum this week. president obama sat down for the interview last night using the chance to hit romney over his leaked 47% comment. here is the president's response when asked which version of romney is more sincere. the one who writes off a 47% or

the one who believes in 100% of the country. >> when you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims that somehow they want to be dependent on government, my thinking is maybe you haven't gotten around a lot. >> mr. obama also took to playing defense in appealing to latino voters over immigration reform. this is something he had promised to do during the first year of his presidency and he blamed republicans for the failure. >> obama: there's the thinking that the president is somebody who's all powerful and can get everything done. we have to have cooperation from all the sources in order to get something done. >> the president did say one thing last night that we can expect to hear over and over again today from republicans. he said you cannot change washington from the inside. while he was referring to the importance of mobilizing the american people and if you listen to the full clip, you'll hear him go on to say that.

of course, romney immediately pounced saying it is time to get president obama out of the white house. more bill press coming up live. stay with us. there's joy and now there's joy on current tv. >>i feel like i don't even know you. >>just stay on your side of the screen, okay? >>brought to you by geico. 15 minutes could save 15% or more on car insurance. visit geico.com for a free rate quote.

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let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today. >>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 46 days and ann romney has a message to republicans who criticize the romney campaign. stop it! oh, stop it! just stop it! this is hard, she says. good morning everybody. what do you say? it is friday!

alleluia. >> bill: friday, september 21. >> allay law ya. >> bill: our favorite day on the "full court press." allay -- alleluia. i'm so happy to see this friday get here and i've only been here four days this week. it seems like ten. >> it has been a long week. >> bill: it's been like a 47% -- >> feels like we worked about 47% harder this week. >> bill: 47 days crammed into four or five maybe for most of us. good to see you today. thank you for joining us. it is the "full court press" here on current tv. on your local progressive talk radio station. if you're lucky enough to have one and on sirius x.m. which has made the stupid decision to only carry us for the first hour. that's their problem not ours. we're glad to see you today.

we have a lot to talk about as we head into the weekend. yes, indeed. and today is the day in case you didn't know it, that you can actually go to the store get in line and buy your new apple 5. i -- >> the iphone 5. >> bill: i ought to start getting a cut on every one of these i sell. >> you want a promotion fee. >> bill: i got an e-mail this morning my new one has been shipped. on its way. maybe later today. >> good for you. >> peter, are you getting one? >> i am, indeed. >> bill: have you ordered it? >> i got the same e-mail. here's the same -- here's the thing. >> bill: peter ogborn, dan henning, cyprian bowlding. >> if you ordered it online, if you preordered it, they're going to deliver it to your door today but you have to -- >> bill: really? >> it will be here today. >> bill: no! >> it will be here today. but here's the thing. if you ordered it in time. if you got the e-mail, it will

be there. you have to be there to sign for it. you have to sign the delivery thing. so if you're at work all day and you're expecting to come home and have your package waiting there for you, you might not have it. >> bill: i don't want them to leave it at the door. >> some people might assume if you're not there they'll leave it for you. then you're going to have to wait until they redeliver it which is on monday. what are you going to do for the weekend? >> bill: coming u.p.s. or fedex? >> one of those services. u.p.s. is the way they send it. you have to sign for it. be there. >> bill: okay. note to carol. >> don't leave the house! [ laughter ] >> bill: because i've got a lot of stuff going on today. >> okay. hire a neighborhood kid to sign your name for you. look at you. >> bill: neighborhood cat to be there. good to see you guys today. everything good? >> yes indeed. >> yeah. >> bill: i tell you one thing i'm not as dumb as this one guy.

some people have been camping out. here is a guy first in line at the apple store in palo alto california, right near the headquarters of apple. and he's been camping out for the last -- camping out for the last two days and he says of course, what else would a red-blooded american do? >> my kids come out so when they're done with school, they come and join me here and we watch movies together and read books and talk and catch out. you can camp out in the forest if you want. i camp out at apple. >> bill: you camp out in the woods. i prefer to camp out -- his kids probably coming down to say what's crazy dad doing today? doesn't he have a job? >> what do the kids think about this in 20 years? >> bill: doesn't he have a job? >> if he does, he has the kind of job that lets him do dumb things like that. >> bill: indeed. i can't resist ann romney. we have to play that little clip for all of our friends. ann has asked us today well --

it's true. all of these republicans are coming out now and saying your husband really stepped in it big time with the 47%. here's an interview -- she's doing an interview on talk radio out in iowa. what do you do about this, annie baby? >> what do you say to your fellow republicans who are -- >> stop it. this is hard. you want to try it, get in the ring. this is hard. >> bill: this is hard. this is hard to lose. stop it! >> theme for the show today. stop it! >> stop it! >> bill: you know what? i can't wait for "saturday night live." oh yeah! oh stop it! here we go. what a crowd we've got today. senator sherrod brown from ohio. he's up in the polls in ohio. way up. and he'll be here to tell us all about it. rich galen a brave republican strategist coming in studio. very seldom do we invite anyone from the other side to come in

today. we felt like beating up on rich galen today. new president of media matters for america will be along as well. but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> bill: dan says something about the nationals. >> i do. right here. >> bill: a statement. >> it is a statement. it is a prop for the first story. the baseball proceeds and picture is starting to take shape. playoff ball returning here to our nation's capital for the first time since 1933. the washington nationals beating the l.a. dodgers 4-1 here in d.c. last night to dpairpt a playoff spot. now the magic number is eight games to also clinch the division which gets them a stronger playoff spot. the cincinnati reds also headed to the -- >> how many games are left? >> two weeks. regular season ends october 3rd. playoffs start october 5th. >> all right. >> bill: the rules are so complicated. >> they are. they get more complicated every

year. >> it is complex. >> change in this year. gain an extra spot for players. >> bill: i don't know anybody who can explain it. >> the cincinnati reds headed to the playoffs. other teams in the hunt, the san francisco giants, atlanta braves, new york yankees baltimore orioles white sox texas rangers and oakland athletics. >> bill: what are you going wear for the next story? >> he's probably got a giants jersey somewhere. >> i do not have my giants jersey today. >> bill: he would have to go change clothes. >> prime time emmy awards are this weekend. jimmy kimmel hosting them sunday night. top acting nominees include zooey deschanel 30 rock's tina fey. also alec baldwin. amy poehler out of parks and recreation and julia louis-dreyfus. jon cryer from two and a half men and louie ck from louie and also ed o'neil from "married from children" actually from

"modern family." bruce springsteen's daughter is hoping to go to the olympics. jessica springsteen who is 20 years old has been riding horses since the age of 5. >> bill: dressage? >> just bought a horse that won gold for the brits this summer in london. she hopes to compete for the u.s. in rio in 2016. >> puts a little tarnish on that every man image of bruce springsteen when his daughter is olympic show jumping horses. >> bill: thank you dan. president obama got his crack at the univision. the anchors of univision got their crack at president obama yesterday. it was a good interview. it was a tough interview. remember mitt romney had been there the day before down at the university of miami. president obama more than held his own but i thought jorge ramos again proved himself to be -- maybe the best anchor in america today. he's really, really good.

and i mean he asked tough questions. i don't care. sort of underscored why the debate commission maybe should have picked him to moderate one of the debates rather than, for example, jim lehrer who's been around the track so many times. at any rate, on the issue of immigration reform they really press president obama hey you said you were all for this. you said you were going to get it done. you've been there almost four years now. what the hell happened? president obama. >> obama: we did put forward a dream act that was passed in the house. got overwhelming majority of support from democrats in the senate and was blocked by the republican party. >> bill: and the president did admit that was his biggest failure. and the thing he regretted most not having accomplished in his first four years but he pointed

out again that he thought this might be an easier path because afterall before he got in the white house republicans supported the very bill that he sent up to congress. >> obama: i confess i did not expect and so i'm happy to take responsibility for being naive here. is that republicans who had previously supported comprehensive immigration reform my opponent in 2008, who had been a champion of it and who attended these meetings, suddenly would walk away. >> bill: that's exactly what happened. couple of things about that. i mean number one you very seldom here a politician, certainly a president admit failure. president obama did. very seldom here a politician accept responsibility. president obama did. but he also explained exactly what happened. and it's true. republican after republican

after republican who supported -- remember president george w. bush put up basically the same bill that obama did and it was a good bill. i said it at the time. this was one of the good ideas george bush had. it was a good, comprehensive immigration reform. it was supported by republicans trent lott, john mccain, republicans in the senate. and what happened is right wing talk radio went crazy. limbaugh and all of the rest. they went nuts. they got people out in the streets, opposing this legislation. and the republicans in the senate caved on that and abandoned george w. bush so then they come back and they say in 2008 no, we support this. we gotta get it done. obama gets elected. he puts the bush bill basically back in front of these republicans in the congress and what happened? they turntables because this time obama was for it and they were not going to give him a victory. no way no how and so they flip-flopped. they totally changed their position. on the bill they had once

supported. and then the president made a statement that some people, republicans right away jumped on and said oh, my god this is worse than the 47%! the comment by mitt romney. what the president said yesterday is that if you want to change washington, you have to have pressure from the outside. here's how it came across. >> obama: you can't change washington from the inside. you can only change it from the outside. that's how i got elected. and that's how the big accomplishments like healthcare got done. >> bill: you can't change washington from the inside. you have to change it from the outside. mitt romney right away said oh, my god! i think what he means to say is he's throwing in the towel. it doesn't quite come across that way. >> he's been very good at mixing his metaphors, mitt romney. >> bill: he's trying to sound like really excited about this. this is the biggest stupidest biggest mistake and stupidest thing any president has ever

said. >> romney: the president today threw in the white flag of surrender again. he said he can't change washington from the inside. he can only change it from outside. well, we're going to give him that chance in november. he's going outside. >> bill: so you either throw in the towel or you raise the flag of surrender right? >> i'm so thirsty, i could drink a horse. >> bill: he raised the towel. i don't know. who knows what. mitt romney said so if he can't fix it, put me in there. >> romney: what you have today is a president who says he can't fix washington from the inside. it is time to get a president who understands what it takes to get america working again and i do. >> bill: oh, yeah, you believe that right? that's what mitt romney said yesterday. isn't it curious curious curious, back in 2008 when mitt romney was also running for president, he had something to say about changing washington from the inside. >> romney: i believe that at this time to change washington, it would be helpful to have somebody who comes with more private sector skill experience

outside washington. i don't think you change washington from the inside. you change it from the outside. >> bill: you can't change washington from the inside. you have to change it from the outside. exactly word for word what president obama said yesterday and president obama was right and romney was right in 2008. look, anything that happened, the civil rights legislation going back to that. do you think these white crackers in the united states senate would have ever voted for it if the pressure had not come from martin luther king and others with the civil rights movement? no way! look at healthcare reform. president obama could have ever got than passed without pressure from nurses and seniors and consumer groups and activist and labor unions around the country. no way! the truth always is, these members of congress are so entrenched that you have to have that pressure from the outside and it was only by building that pressure from the outside on the inside that president obama is able to get the affordable care

act passed and yes, it is going to be the same thing with campaign finance reform. do you think these dodos are ever going to vote on their own for campaign finance reform? no, it will take a major movement on the part of the american people and pressure and demands on the part of the american people to get congress to act. so, i don't know. what do you think about this? 1-866-55-press. republicans are trying to say this is as big a gaffe as the 47%. oh, no no, no, no. the difference is, don't you think, mitt romney was lying about the 47% being freeloaders and slugs. president obama was just telling the truth. that's the way politics operates. you gotta put pressure on your state legislature or your city council or the congress from outside if you want to get anything done. what is so revolutionary about that? it's the truth. trickle down does not work. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

elevator and the workers get the shaft. that is a whole bunch of bunk. election, but they can't steal democracy.

his is joy on current tv. >>if mitt romney treats his magic underwear the same way as his tax returns, then he's been going commando for the past 10 years.

>> announcer: heard around the >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 26 minutes after the hour. nbc reporting in its latest nbc "wall street journal" poll that president obama three key battleground states, president obama up 5 points in wisconsin and colorado. president obama up over mitt romney 8 points in iowa. things are looking good. republicans trying to make a big deal about president obama's comment yesterday that you have to change washington from the

outside. haven't we all learned that? is that so -- is that such a big deal? lamont calling from maryville indiana. good morning. >> caller: hey, bill, how you doing? >> bill: good to talk to you. >> caller: all right. i had a couple of things to say. ever heard that richard pryor joke, whoever is winning, that's my side. that's mitt romney. actually, they bought up obama's when he said redistribution and they want to talk about the comment that he just made. is mitt romney really the person that wants to talk about what somebody said in the past? >> bill: i don't think so. right? in fact, i think he has a genetic problem. it was his father who was a leading candidate for president until he said he had been brainwashed about vietnam. so maybe he had better be careful. lamont, appreciate the call. i saw joe donnelly, good congressman from indiana who's going to be the next democratic

senator from indiana. saw him yesterday and he's looking good and he's up a little bit in the polls. so gotta make that happen. johnny is in bellwood, illinois. johnny, good morning to you. >> caller: good morning. >> bill: what do you think? >> caller: i think mitt romney is such a big liar and people just don't call him out on being a big liar. for him to say anything about anything. he is so wrong! but he's not ready to be my president. but anyway, you know, he won't even release his income taxes. i just want people -- i want him to release his income tax. i want to see what's in those income taxes. >> bill: i do too johnnie. you know what? i think what it shows, we talked about this yesterday in his tax return is that mitt romney is, in fact, one of the 47% of americans who don't pay any federal income tax or at least didn't in a few years. come on, mitt romney. prove you're not part of the

47%. release those damn taxes. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." or before that when they've had administrations, they would keep spending all of the cut taxes, i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. here we go on a friday. friday, september 21. it is the "full court press." coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours. don't forget you know, this is all leading up to november 6th. and this big election. but you gotta be part of it, folks. if you have not registered to vote or maybe you just moved you left college you know, back to your parent's home or on to a new job or you and your family

have moved to a new state you gotta be registered to vote. we made it easy for you. if you go to our web site at billpressshow.com, there's a little box right there on the front page. rock the vote. the rock the vote people have come up with a system. you click on that. it will take you right -- identify your state. it will tell you exactly how to do it. you can either register immediately online or fill out the form immediately for your state. but you gotta do it as soon as you can because you never know when voter registration is going to close. some states, it closes as early as october 6th. and early voting starts pretty soon in some states. so do it today. and do your civic duty here. we'll get back to our calls about mitt romney saying that barack obama -- he made a much bigger gaffe than he did when romney talked about the 47%. oh, my god. how dare barack obama yesterday

say that if you want change in washington, you gotta change from the outside and not count on changing it from the inside. more calls on that coming up here on 1-866-55-press. first, quick time-out here. article that caught my attention here out of the "boston globe," you realize there have been more than 200 cases of lost or stolen personal data affecting eight and a half million americans during the first half of this year. that shows you what a serious problem identity theft is. and how important it is that you have some protection for your own private information. i do. i signed up for what's called life lock ultimate. it is the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. goes way beyond guarding just your social security number or name or address. even includes your bank accounts but of course, life lock can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. call now and mention press 60 for 60 risk-free days of life

lock ultimate identity protection. if you're not happy you give them a call within another 60 days cancel. they'll give you a full refund. see life lock.com for details and then give them a call at 1-866-55-press. -- at 1-800-356-5967 for life lock ultimate. 1-800-356-5967. back to mitt romney. lisa in houston texas. what do you say lisa? >> caller: bill. >> bill: how are you doing? >> caller: my interpretation was what president obama was saying. when they do the polls about hispanics and what's most important to you immigration is always at the bottom. and the only way they're going to get people to really, really get behind them is that they let people know, no, immigration is very important to us. and bring it up to the top and fight for it. and i noticed when mitt

romney -- his questions i'm for comprehensive immigration. they just clap, clap, clap. but they forgot there were other things. when they say -- other things were involved with what hispanics need. now when it comes to president obama, they want to beat him -- you didn't give us immigration but he gave you healthcare and education. these were the things that mitt romney was against for hispanics. so if you want people to fight for something you've got to, as a group, come from the outside and be -- beat yourself in and that's what the president was saying. if you want immigration stop putting it at the box the list when people -- and put it up at the top and fight for it as hard as you fight against him because he didn't get it passed. people knew this meant a lot. >> bill: lisa, you're absolutely right. that's -- with every issue by the way. i got started in politics working on environmental issues, i was an environmental lobbyist in sacramento. the state legislature, i learned

that early on. they were going to do anything on their own. they act when they feel pressure from constituents, right? and the same thing here like president obama on healthcare. that's how he got healthcare done. and if people really start to mandate immigration reform and we need it and it's gotta be number one then you'll see these members of congress act. until then, they won't. >> exactly. >> bill: lisa, great to hear from you. thanks so much. steve up in stowe vermont. good morning. >> caller: yeah, hi, good morning. yeah listen, i have the perfect example of what obama was trying to get at. look, if you want change okay, don't vote for somebody like scott brown in massachusetts. he might be photogenic but if you keep him in instead of putting in elizabeth warren, you're going to get people who.do nothing but block and don't compromise.

so obama was right. he's already in there but he can't do it himself. people have to go out and vote for people that are willing to create change and do compromise. if you just sit back, the tea party is going to control washington and we aren't going to get anything done and there's going to be no compromise and the country's going to go down the drain. >> bill: well said, steve. scott brown, you know, he and elizabeth warren had their first debate last night. you know, you're right. scott brown is a pretty boy. he pretends to be -- he did not even mention mitt romney in the debate last night. and elizabeth warren came right out and said part of our agenda is helping president obama get re-elected and she's a total supporter of his. scott brown wouldn't mention mitt romney. elizabeth warren did point out this guy who pretends to be -- pretends to be fair and open-mind and everything, he supported the bill by roy blunt

in the senate that would have allowed businesses to decide whether or not their female employees get access to contraception in their healthcare plan. allow the boss, the male boss in these big corporations to decide what protection women -- female employees get as part of their healthcare policy. if that isn't the ultimate in male chauvinism and inequality and that scott brown he's right there for it. by the way, in the next segment we're going to be talking to reporter from "the boston globe" about last night's debate and we'll play some clips from last night's debate between elizabeth warren and scott brown. she's ahead in the latest polls. our roving ambassador arnold checks in from tuscaloosa, alabama. hey, arnold. >> caller: good morning, bill. >> bill: there are a lot of people in alabama who don't pay any federal income tax we learned, huh? >> caller: oh, you know, all of these southern states, pay no

taxes. hey, scott brown wouldn't say mitt romney's name if he had a subpoena making him say his name. bill, some guy told me yesterday, the romney campaign is really in it, ain't it? he said they're up to their necks in it. so anyway you not notice on tv when he was being interviewed by the hispanic community he has some kind of a sprayed on tanning on his face or something. airbrushed tanning. it was like a bronze paint he had on. >> bill: maybe he was trying to identify with the latinos there. i don't know. >> caller: this man is in bad trouble. i'm happy for it. i'm happy for it, bill. and what have you got -- we have to get people registered to vote. >> bill: absolutely.

>> caller: we're doing it. we're voting. >> bill: that's what we need -- we need that, arnold. that's why this mention of the rock the vote again a little bit earlier. yeah, you're right. romney's on the ropes. more stories this morning about how his campaign is running out of cash. but you know, this thing is far from over. 46 days is still a long time. we gotta keep the pedal to the metal. robin is in lauren, south carolina. hey, robert. >> caller: good morning. i have two quick comments if i may. one is that romney's running on a plat form of wealth, redistribution saying he's against it. well i'm opposed to wealth consolidation. >> bill: good point. by the way, he really is for wealth redistribution as long as more and more goes up to the very top right? >> caller: right. >> bill: yeah. >> caller: another is around here, the locals, they -- wealth

envy. it is wage and benefit resentment. >> bill: yeah, when all of the higher wages go to that level and all of the benefits go to that level and that income inequality gets wider and wider and a bigger problem robert. you're right on both points. appreciate it. yep so last night probably the most-watched senate campaign in the country is in massachusetts where scott brown who stole the seat of teddy kennedy is trying to hold on to it. and good democrats in massachusetts want to bounce him and replace him with a great candidate, elizabeth warren. we'll find out all of the latest from frank phillips who is with "the boston globe." the bureau chief up there in the state house of boston. we'll be right back and talk massachusetts politics. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft. that is a whole bunch of bunk. the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy.

gaeme inc. thank gaemezilinsky, thank you for joining it's go time. what time is it rob? oh, then it's go. go. go. go time. anybody? anybody? what time is it? oh, right. go time!

>> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. republican strategist rich galen in studio with us at the top of the next hour. that should be fun. meanwhile, yesterday morning here in washington, scott brown senator scott brown told reporters he wasn't sure he was going to be able to make last night's debate with elizabeth warren because they might have votes in the senate. harry reid heard about that, went on the floor and said uh-huh, scott brown is not going to use us as an excuse to duck out of the debate.

i hereby cancel all scheduled votes in the senate. and so scott brown off to massachusetts for the big debate last night with elizabeth warren. how did it go? we check in with frank phillips who is the state house bureau chief for "the boston globe" on the scene in boston. hey, frank, good morning. >> good morning, bill. >> bill: thanks for joining us so early this morning. so this was the first of four debates, right? >> it is. much anticipated. >> bill: how did it go? >> it went very well. i think they both made their points. brown was a little -- got a little personal. tried to get you could her skin -- tried to get under her skin. she's been criticized for being animate and preachy. she was cool and measured in her whole presentation. and it went well. i don't think brown did himself a lot of favors -- went after her on as i said, personal issues or salary at harvard. he went after her on the american indian issue that i

think is pretty well resolved with voters. and -- but he also showed a little wonky side. it was a little -- he was talking about -- you know, all kinds of tax numbers and just -- it got a little confusing. he was trying to show himself there. >> bill: i want to play for our viewers and listeners here -- you mention the native american. i was surprised that this is scott brown and part of his opening remarks. he went right to this issue. here he is. >> professor warren claimed that she was a native american, a person of color. and as you can see she's not. that being said, she checked the box and she had an opportunity actually to make a decision throughout her career when she applied to penn and harvard she checked the box claiming she was a native-american. >> bill: he went right to that, frank which indicates they must think this is a killer issue for them, right? and is it? >> i don't think it is.

i think the polls show that it isn't. they are really banking on this as sort of a disqualifying issue. they don't have much else on her other than -- his positions are not really with the people of massachusetts in a lot of ways on tax cuts and tax cuts for the millionaires and all of that stuff. oil subsidies. but on this issue they're trying to put a went in there between particularly working class democrats what he needs to get to. and i think it's kind of been debated. had this leaked out, you know, in october, it would have been a mess for elizabeth warren. but this has been adjudicated last may. she didn't really handle it well for the first five weeks almost but it got adjudicated. people know about it. she had a pretty good answer last night. if you want to -- if you're going to play that or not, i don't know. but it was a good answer. >> bill: she just said basically it was part of their family lore.

>> yeah. it was her family lore. she grew up with this. this is what she -- if you can't document it because -- we had a great piece last sunday about how in oklahoma, it is very much what people grew up with. >> bill: i have to tell you i grew up in delaware. it is part of my family lore. aye aalways thought it was -- i've always thought it was b. s. but some of my brothers and sisters believe that crap. i kind of identify with her. i know elizabeth warren also said -- made it very, very clear. of course she was at the democratic national convention. she's a big supporter of president obama and fully behind his effort for four more years. how many times did scott brown mention mitt romney last night? >> not once. he ran away from romney. he was praising the president. he was praising hillary clinton. >> bill: get out! >> yeah. he said i think he's done this. particularly on foreign policy. he got into that. she was making the point -- i think -- you know, she should have made the point stronger that tied him into mitt romney

who is terribly unpopular now in massachusetts. his numbers are 30 favorable 60 unfavorable. it is that bad. he's trying to run away. interestingly enough, the same advisors through eric fehrnstrom and company to romney are doing the brown campaign. so it is interesting. >> bill: oh, is that right? they must recognize that romney's too much negative baggage, right? >> biggest headwind for brown. >> bill: scott, so knower the voter registration in massachusetts, i guess brown's hope and what he's trying to do is present himself as a moderate, a reasonable guy you know. not one of those tea party republicans, right. a guy you can work with and trust. >> that is. and that's where a lot of this -- went back and forth last night. she was really trying to paint him as somebody protecting the tax cuts for the rich, the oil subsidies. all of those things that -- on

the major issues, he can point to the fact that his votes were 50/50 with the leadership. it was on the big votes she's making the point she's with the national conservative right wing on that stuff. >> bill: any -- you know, the poll have gone up and down up there. what's the latest from the globe? >> we haven't done one yet. i think stay tuned we'll do ours. there have been a slew of polls the last week. the first four showed her with a -- edging up and past him in the polls. pushing up into the high 40s mid-40s. the "boston herald" and umass lowell did one which showed him up five points so there's one disparity. i don't know where it is. it is very difficult to get our hands on this. generally, it is a very tight race. it's going to go down to the wire. it is going to be -- obama's margin -- obama gets over 60%. i don't know how brown can -- >> bill: that will be the case i think in many states.

hey, frank, fun to talk to you this morning. thank you so much for your time. >> it's a pleasure, bill. >> bill: frank phillips, the state house bureau chief "the boston globe." boston.com. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv.

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>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. they're doing this this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>that's an understatement, eliot. >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: senator sherrod brown from ohio up in the next hour as well as republican strategist

rich galen. we're still trying to keep up with the avalanche of e-mails about the 47% comment. roberts says i find it ironic that the megawealthy spare no expense building and maintaining a mansion, yacht, a private airplane limousine horses or a lapdog yet they balk at supporting and maintaining their country. tom says i'm a minneapolis moocher. president obama will need a congress and the senate willing to work with him to solve some problems. good point tom. we need to hold on to the senate and get the house back in democratic control as well. harry says if the country's divided as the news says half the country votes republican and the other half votes democratic then statistically speaking, of the 47% half of those persons not paying taxes are republicans. yep, you're absolutely right harry.

most of them live in red states. does mitt romney know that?

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. great to see you today. thank you so much for joining us. it's friday. friday september 21. "full court press." we've got lots to talk about including the fact that president obama got hammered yesterday on univision for why he hasn't produced any comprehensive immigration reform. president obama admitted that was his biggest failure.

but we all know why he couldn't get it done. he sent a good comprehensive immigration reform bill to the congress and republican senators filibuster and blocked it, even though they supported the same legislation under george w. bush. all right. we'll talk more about that and a whole lot more here on the "full court press." first, today's latest current news update from lisa ferguson in los angeles. hi lisa, good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. president obama is suddenly really on a roll when it comes to bringing in the fund-raising dollars. for months republicans were consistently outraising the president but in august, the obama campaign brought in $74 million. that is more than double what we saw from romney at just $27 million. that is without including committee funds from either candidate. these numbers are really significant because we were expecting a huge haul from romney after the conventions and a huge campaign push in the form

of negative advertising. now that is something we will still likely see especially considering romney campaign's new strategy to put him more -- to put more of him in the public eye. but for now, the president is actually outspending romney on advertising by a ratio of three to one. it seems team romney could actually be running out of money if you can call it that when you still have $50 million but that is about $100 million less than he had coming out of the convention just a couple of weeks ago. but if you are working for team romney, you probably aren't finding yourself in any sort of financial trouble right now. that's because the campaign handed out more than $200,000 in bonuses to its top staffers last month alone. according to s.e.c. records most senior. >> eliot: staffers make about $165,000 a year. and those are the highest bonuses walked away with an extra $10,000 to $37,000 last month. pretty interesting considering

team romney is struggling for funds right now and still needs to pay back $11 million on its loan. more bill press is coming up. now to my point. (vo) jennifer granholm ... >>for every discouraged voter, there are ten angry ones taking action. trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft. that is a whole bunch of bunk. the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy.

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 46 days to go now. can you believe it? and ann romney's got a message for republicans who are critical of her husband's campaign. stop it! she says. just stop it! right now! good morning everybody. what do you say? it is friday. big friday, september 21. good to see you today. this is the "full court press."

otherwise known as the nationals baseball booster club here, i think. if you just take a look at our studio this morning. i mean we've got -- not bad enough having dan with his nationals shirt on. now rich galen comes in. with his playoffs cap which -- the nationals made the playoffs last night by beating -- >> eight hours ago. >> literally hours ago. >> you're a fan or you're not a fan. you can wait outside for your iphone. i waited outside for this sports cap. [ laughter ] >> i love it! >> bill: joining the team here, peter ogborn, dan henning cyprian bowlding. you could have worn the cap. >> i thought about it briefly.

>> we're thinking about having an intervention to keep bill away from nats games. every game he goes to, they lose. >> they scan the stands to see if he's there. >> bill: it must have been exciting. >> it was great. 30,300. >> bill: really? >> which is a good crowd. stadium holds like 41,000. it is a school night now this late in the season. >> bill: i went last sunday. i was excited to see them and they lost. and i was really disappointed being that close to the playoffs that they didn't really have a full house. >> the last really big full house they've this was when they had a concert after the game. about three weeks ago. they were so -- they were selling standing room tickets for that. >> cure -- curious to see how the attendance is for the playoff game. if that is not sold out, this is not a baseball team. >> they'll move the team to minneapolis or someplace. >> bill: people gotta give up on the redskins for a couple of

weeks. come support the nats. >> it is true. i remember when i first started covering the nationals. they were still at rfk. they would talk about the fact that they thought that attendance would grow once school was out because you can't -- it is hard to go -- even -- no matter how close they are, on a sunday, whatever. yet sunday, now as you say you're going up against the redskins and lot of people -- it is a football town. >> definitely a football town. >> bill: this is a big day not just because the nationals made the playoffs. because theiphone 5 goes on sale today at the apple stores. people of course have been camping out. and people like me who have their old phones. my new one arrives -- >> your phone doesn't look that bad bill. >> mine is tricked out. this is a 4s but i have a special back on it. >> wow. it is all murdered out. >> if i could have it a convertible, i would do that. >> you fancy. >> i'm a fancy man. >> bill: obviously both of us

are victims of nomophobia. it is the fear of being without your iphone. dr. elizabeth wasserman talks about what this fundamentally what this is really all about. >> at its core, it really does seem to be a fear of losing connection. connection with others. connection with new sources connection with social networks. >> bill: it's really true. i don't know -- it could be any smart phone. might have to be an iphone. the fear of being without it and not being able to get your e-mail or your texts or make a phone call. i couldn't -- >> i also carry around my ipad wherever i go. it is never out of my sight. >> i hate to admit it but yeah. >> i was afraid she was going to say it was some kind of psychosexual problem. great, another one. [ laughter ] >> bill: it is. in love with our smart phones.

that's what it is. >> i do use it all the time. >> bill: rich galen here to start us off this hour. senator sherrod brown from ohio will be joining us a little bit later in the hour. but dan is here. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news, staying on the theme of the iphone, many people excited about the release but not so much about apple's new maps app replacing the google maps app that used to come standard on iphones. "huffington post" reporting apple's version having a lot of problems. can't identify some roads has made up airports and gave directions to completely different cities than what was asked for by the user. no response yet from apple except for keep using it. >> bill: can you put the google app on the iphone? >> you can download it as a separate app. >> it is not native but you can do it. it is all suri's fault. >> a candidate for state supreme court justice in michigan landed quite the cast for a new web ad for her campaign.

bridget mccormack has the cast of the former hit show "the west wing" starring in an ad for her for free because her sister, actress mary mccormack starred on the show, went off the air back in 2006. she got her old friends together, martin sheen allison janney and rob lowe among others to make the advertisement. they just had to pay $5,000 for food and insurance and the actors donated their time. >> bill: yeah. >> is this a great country or what? >> bill: about all of the actor's salaries, man you couldn't afford that. >> salaries, forget about it. it was the payment for the retirement fund you can't afford >> a big step for ralph lauren, the clothing designer introduced its first plus 5 model yesterday. robin who is 6'2" and a size 12 was introduced on "good morning america" on abc. fashion experts now -- >> she's 6'2"? >> could start a trend in the industry known for is super skinny models, maybe going another direction. >> bill: i heard chris christie is signing up. >> if you've seen this model if

you've seen this model. plus size -- is a generous term. she's not a large woman. she's not like an overweight woman. she's not a skin and bones model. she looks like a normal woman. believe it or not. >> bill: plus size. we'll see how plus they're willing to go. >> short squat size. >> bill: rich galen the nbc "wall street journal" poll today reporting in three swing states, in wisconsin and colorado, it's president obama up by five points over mitt romney in iowa. president obama up 8 points over mitt romney. the last poll i saw from virginia, president obama up 8 points over mitt romney. what's going on? >> i think that -- well, no question about the fact that the romney campaign is in a dip but they've come off the worst three weeks in presidential politics probably in both of our lives. i was trying to think of a worse

three weeks of any major candidate. >> bill: starting with the convention? >> yeah, absolutely. starting with the convention. you can go back and back and back. some of this was set up by the whole tax return thing. they walked into that. you know, you would have thought -- and i like these guys. i'm going to vote for them but you would have thought well, if he's going to run for president he's worth $300 million, someone is going to say how much do you pay in taxes. i don't think he can say i'm not telling. at some point, you have to come up with some formulation. i understand that he has -- you know, armies of accountants that look for every semicolon to save him money. that's what they're paid for. >> bill: i would volunteer that he did nothing illegal. >> but what i think -- i don't know this but what i suspect was they got in the room and they said well, if he were at least five -- if we release five years of taxes they'll hire their own army of cpas, every day we're going to be answering here on page 237 line 23a i'm not so sure this is a legitimate one.

like most of us, you know, the accountant -- how much of a check do i have to send and where do i sign? so -- i think they just decided that was the new and greater evil. all of that -- but that gave the obama campaign a pivot point, i think in terms of driving a wedge between romney and regular people. and then we got to the convention. it just has been a dreadful three weeks. maybe four weeks now. >> bill: do you think that eventually he will release more of his tax returns? >> uh-huh. >> bill: he's promised a second year of returns sometime in october. >> it will probably be the current year. because october 15th is the deadline for those of us who got an extension. >> bill: so that leads to -- the convention -- you were there. i didn't. i watched it. i was in charlotte. which is kind of flat, i think.

but people remember is -- >> what people remember out of tampa is bill clinton. so i think in both cases -- >> bill: bill clinton was up. >> i wasn't in the hall. here's what i do. you know this. we've talked about this before. you can't be in the hole and expect to see the same show that somebody else saw and you can't be in the filing center because you're being affected by grimaces and side comments so i sat in my hotel room for the one hour a night except for tuesday night. and watched it that way to make sure i was seeing what everybody at home was seeing. what i wrote about the clint eastwood thing, it was a little jarring. okay, a lot jarring. but i said i suspect this will play differently outside of the filing center here in tampa and it did. did it move the needle? i don't think so. again, it gave everybody something else to talk about that took the romney campaign out of its message which is at

base what's happening day after day after day. they just can't get back on message. >> bill: rach gailen is a guest, republican strategist and the founder and editor in chief of mullings.com. excellent blog if you want to know -- i think some fair analysis from a republican point of view. and a conservative point of view. mullings.com. so then the latest, of course, is the 47%. 47% comment. which has -- which really threw them off message. >> yeah. >> bill: how does he recover from that? >> they have to wait until the wave retreats off the beach. we have a short attention span. but i don't think they did a good job. they haven't been able to talk about -- the week before that they got themselves involved in libya and whether that was a good statement bad statement

and you know, it's the economy. getting back on the economy. but i think with the 47%, one thing that they should have made clear right off the bat that this was in may that still sounds like -- it was in may when he was tacking as far to the right as he possibly could because he was still in a fistfight with santorum at that point. so it wasn't -- it wasn't current stuff. but he said it. he -- somebody got the tape of it. david corn got it released. it was a big deal. >> bill: what surprised me and maybe you because we've been around. we've watched people step in it before is that they were so inadequate or incompetent in getting out of it. coming up with a response and basically saying oh, my god, yeah. that was a dumb thing to say. whatever. >> i was drunk. >> bill: yeah. but instead the sort of -- dug down and said -- that's who these people are. and the most telling thing i saw

was that the top ten states were people who don't pay any federal income tax are red states. >> because a lot of retirees can and things like that. but you know, back in the primary days and i think they might have talked about this on the air, people have said this has to go on for awhile because it will make romney a better candidate. i said no it won't. he's been doing this for five and a half years. this is as good as it is ever going to be. what i think they need to pivot to is to make the point you want a brilliant candidate and a great order, you got them. but he can't perform as president of the united states. if you want somebody who can lead and manage the world then mitt romney is your guy. if they can headache that case and they've got six and a half weeks to do it, i think they can recover this thing. the hill is getting steeper. >> bill: i'm not -- i'm not giving any advice but economy and jobs it seems to me the one issue they could win on and he's gotta be talking about that and convincing people that he could do a better job on that number

which is ultimately always the most important issue. >> oh, yeah. we've got two more job reports between now and election. >> bill: is there enough time for him to turn it around? >> sure. i just don't see how they do it at this point. >> bill: given the people they've got. >> they're all smart. you know we all know each other. none of us is all that much smarter than the other guy. but when the fulcrum moves in one of the very close elections it is very hard to get if you're on the wrong side. >> bill: are you saying, rich galen, are you saying this morning, republican strategist that mitt romney can't win? >> no. >> bill: i don't see how he can do it. >> i don't see the path to it but that doesn't mean events won't overtake us. we were just talking about this -- the unease in not just in the middle east but in all muslim nations around the world. yesterday in china or two days ago in china they surrounded the u.s. ambassador. at some point this stuff is

going to leak in. what's going on. the other problem i think if romney does begin to make a run bill, and i think he will. there will be one more -- the issue for the obama campaign is do they call bill clinton in as the substitute quarterback again to run you know, the wildcat. does that make obama look weak for having done that? i think that's an issue for them. >> bill: so, there we go. very seldom do you have a chance to throw a question to republican strategists on the "full court press" here. but rich galen is a good friend. and i think a good outlook on -- and a fair outlook an what's going on here. he doesn't pull any punches so you don't either. 1-866-55-press. our toll free number if you want to join the conversation. that chair right there. we save that seat at the table for you. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv.

they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today... i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

gaeme inc. thank gaemezilinsky, thank you for joining

(vo) this is joy. >>who the heck does mitt romney think he is? (vo) this is joy on current tv. >>if mitt romney treats his magic underwear the same way as his tax returns, then he's been going commando for the past 10 years.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. senator sherrod brown from ohio is joining us just a little bit later. rich galen republican strategist and editor in chief of mullings.com is in studio with us. rich, before we get to the phones, if we have time here, the wife of mitt romney on talk radio yesterday in iowa. and she was asked -- as you

know, several leading republicans have said boy we don't see america the way mitt romney does in terms of this 47%. so what do you say to those people. here's this little exchange. >> what do you say to your fellow republicans? >> stop it. this is hard. you want to try it, go et in the ring. this is hard. >> bill: just stop it! this is hard. >> yeah. >> bill: little thin-skinned? >> i don't know if this is thin-skinned. she's not in the best of health to start with. and i think it's just the weight of the campaign. this has been going on since -- this election campaign's been going on since like 1837 it feels like. i think that's if fatigue showing. i don't know her but i know a lot of people that do know her. they think she's a gracious person. >> bill: people are going to -- you know, not -- always embrace you no matter what you do.

their own -- for example, scott brown last night. in his debhait with elizabeth warren never mentioned mitt romney once. >> massachusetts. >> bill: smart if you're in massachusetts, i guess. i guess what i'm saying is they have to understand some people -- their own self-interest will drive them. >> that's exactly right. this happens every four years. >> bill: give me a quick 30 seconds on paul ryan. good choice or not? honestly? >> i thought he was a good choice. my first choice would have been -- i think what they needed was -- they had to go with somebody that they thought if they were going to win could help them govern. something the vice president has done for obama. he gets no credit for. obama does not have the best relationship with the hill. he goes all the way from disdain to dislike. biden goes up there. he knows everybody by their first name. >> bill: no disdain nor dislike for you. thank you.

>> thank you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." (vo) jennifer granholm ... >>for every discouraged voter, there are ten angry ones taking action. trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft. that is a whole bunch of bunk. the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy. from silver screens... to flat screens... twizzlerize your entertainment everyday with twizzlers the twist you can't resist.

>> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. friday, september 21. the "full court press" here on current tv and your local progressive talk radio station. so good to have you with us today. don't forget when we talk politics, the most important thing is to make sure you are registered to vote. and to cast your vote and your voice in this presidential election year. and of course, all of the important house races and senate

races. you can do so by going to our web site at billpressshow.com. and clicking on rock the vote. we'll make it easier for you. one stop shop. you click on that, it will take you right away, you identify your state and you can register on the spot! or it will provide depending on how your states rules, the form you need to register immediately and get that off to your state secretary of state. but voting registration deadlines close within a couple of weeks in some states so you don't have much time. don't put it off. do it today and make sure that you are qualified to vote on november 6th. bring you up to date on the latest here from our nation's capital. but first you know, times are tough for a lot of families, a lot of you are looking at how you can supplement your income. here's something you ought to consider. incomeathome.com. you've heard me talk about them before. they're america's leading work from home business. doing business in over 80 countries today. do -- they know what they're

doing. you can literally earn money from your own computer on your own kitchen table 24/7. with a little help and some spare time a little help from the folks at incomeathome.com. so if you are sick of living paycheck to paycheck, worried about job security or retirement, your goal is to earn some extra money from home, part-time or full time, check them out. incomeathome.com, even giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. visit incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. you expected congress to get anything done in these few days that they are here in washington, d.c., forget about it! harry reid yesterday pointing out the problem he has faced as democratic leader. majority leader in getting anything done in congress. it's, of course, that the republicans are filibuster

anything that might make president obama look good. >> i've had during my six years here, had to try to overcome 382 filibusters. so that answers your question. because of what senator mcconnell has done and as i said on the floor today, they have followed him like lemmings over the cliff. and it has been -- it has been very unfortunate for our country. >> bill: 382 filibusters republicans blocking anything president obama wanted to accomplish or democrats in the senate wanted to accomplish. of course, i think it would have been more difficult for the republicans to do that if harry reid had only demanded that filibusters really be real filibusters and they have to not just threaten to filibuster. they have to come in. they have to keep speaking at the podium. very to set up the cots. they have to spend the night there. make them really filibuster and i think there would be fewer filibusters. but at any rate, it is a

republican in transigence that has prevented anything getting done. yesterday was proof for the pudding in the senate. so here was this bill. it was a bill -- you probably heard about it, to provide job opportunities for veterans, okay. this was a billion dollars to set up a program putting veterans back to work, tending to the country's federal lands and bolstering local police and fire departments. it was modeled on the great civilian conservation corps that president franklin roosevelt launched after -- at the time of the great depression. that would have put a veterans jobs corps. because so many veterans coming home from iraq and afghanistan with all of the skills can't find a job. first lady has been working on this problem with dr. jill biden. this would go even beyond that. billion dollars. i mean what's wrong with this?

nobody could be against it. the republicans are really for it. but they filibustered it and some of the republicans privately, at least admitted why they filibustered. they filibustered it for one reason only. yes, it was a good idea. but if they pass this, this would put more people back to work. this would mean the unemployment rate would go down. this would mean that president obama would get credit for doing something more for veterans than creating more jobs and so the republicans, in the senate, blocked it, filibustered a great measure to put veterans back to work. they were willing to show themselves as anti-job and anti- veteran in order to continue to be anti-obama. that was in the senate. and in the house, it was sort of equally outrageous. the house had a chance to pass the farm bill. this is something like the highway funding bill that -- surface transportation bill i think is what they actually call

it. the same kind of legislation that would -- always in the past a bipartisan effort. republicans and democrats said agriculture is still our most important product here. most important industry. we've gotta make sure our farmers have all of the help that they need and all of the resources that they need so every year they would pass a farm bill which would last maybe five years. this year, they can't even get the damn farm bill passed. yesterday it came up in the house and john boehner and republicans decided no. they were going to delay any action on the farm bill. what's controversial about the farm bill? nothing. nothing. maybe they should be talking about getting rid of some of the subsidies but they're not. again, there was no disagreement on any major policies or planks. no big fights over any policy. it passed the house agricultural committee on a bipartisan vote.

john boehner and eric cantor will not bring it up to a vote on the floor of the house because they don't want president obama to get any credit for a -- for farm legislation. so they put that off. kicked that can down the road until after november. you gotta remember that the house and the senate took five weeks' vacation end of july and through august. okay. maybe into early september. but they just had a five-week break. they're scheduled to leave today. and i ran into a member of the house by the way last night, who lives half a block from us on capitol hill here. she was leaving town early this morning. so they're already on their way out of town today. for another seven-week break until the election. so on top of five weeks they came back for two days and now

they're taking another seven weeks. seven weeks! >> seven weeks! >> bill: how would you like to have a schedule like that, right? >> i would be on a seven-week vacation. [ laughter ] >> bill: see ya later! thanks for paying me while i'm gone. >> yeah, right! >> bill: yeah, right. then they didn't do anything in two days that they were here. so yesterday democratic leader nancy pelosi and steny hoyer and other top democrats in the house -- sent a letter to john boehner saying you know what? this is really dereliction of duty. we are not doing our jobs. we are not giving taxpayers their dollars' worth by this kind of a schedule. let's cancel the housebreak. maybe take a couple of weeks or something later on. but let's stay here and get the job done. let's stay here and pass a budget. let's stay here and deal with sequestration. let's stay here and deal with the farm bill. and then maybe we could get on

to some other issues like immigration reform or like global warming or like some of the other things that need to be done here, right? no. boehner and cantor said no. it is more important to go out and campaign. is it any wonder that the approval rating of congress is only like 12%? no. the real question is why is it so high? they're so bad. why is it as high as 12%? you would think it would be like 2% approval rating. unbelievable! but we also see for the most part who's totally responsible. it is minute mcconnell republicans in the senate with the filibuster and john boehner and eric cantor in the house with their do nothing approach to legislation. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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(vo) cenk uygur is many things. >>oh really? >>"if you ever raise taxes on >>the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

>> announcer: this is the "full >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: here we go. 14 minutes now before the top of the hour on the "full court press" this friday. september 21. we've been talking over the last couple of days, not just about the presidential election of 2012 but about important senate races because so important not only to hold on to but to increase the democratic majority in the united states senate. no senate race in the country more important than the one in ohio. where senator sherrod brown fighting for re-election. our good friend, we want to do

anything we can to make sure he gets back here for another six years. he joins us on our news line this morning. senator sherrod brown, good morning, sir. >> good to be with you. sorry i'm not in studio. in cleveland today. >> bill: you've been here as often as you could senator. we understand that. you're where you ought to be today. so before leaving town yesterday, here's a bill that would say we've got one of these veterans coming back to this country and they've served their country well. they've got great skills. they need jobs. let's provide an opportunity like a veterans job corps to put them back to work and not even this would win republican support. >> five republicans and five voted for it. that didn't get us to 60. some republicans had the nerve of democrats to leave town after this. this is -- i can't remember the number of filibusters. it is hundreds and hundreds of filibusters. this was one where patty murray, the chair of the veterans committee said to republicans

if you need things in this bill for your support, give them to us. we included a lot of provisions that republicans wanted including a request from the senior republican and veterans committee, senator burr and they still filibustered it. the problem with this, bill is one thing. it might make barack obama look good when he signs it. that's the problem with the bill. >> bill: that's really it. >> it's incredible. you know how -- unemployment rate for veterans is persistently higher. has been for some time. and we've passed some good legislation the veterans reassistance, the veterans retraining act. done some things that are making a difference. this would have been a huge shot in the arm for veterans coming back getting jobs. it is outrageous if they filibuster it again. >> bill: just showed again that their one effort led by mitch mcconnell is deny anything that looks like a victory for president obama.

>> then they like to say that -- media like to report because the media want to look fair. and they like to report well, the partisanship defeated this bill. republicans and democrats disagreed and couldn't come together. this is a bill, again where republicans had input in writing in the bill. a lot of input and we probably would have accepted other stuff they wanted but they weren't going to let barack obama have a victory and let senate democrats pass something. to do that to the nation's veterans when they talk such a good game about veterans is reprehensible. >> bill: final point on this, they'll complain the unemployment numbers are so high and here is the chance to put tens of thousands of veterans to work and lower the unemployment rate. of course, they're going to vote against it. front page article senator this morning on "the new york times," obama's journey to tougher task on -- to tougher tack rather on a rising china. the president has cracked down. gotten tough. i think he now said in ohio --

one in ohio last week. this is something that you've been pushing for a long time. is the president going in the right direction here? >> he's absolutely going in the right direction. i want to see more. this president is in forced trade laws. a number of cases that have translated directly into jobs is a new steel mill in youngstown because of the enforcement of trade rules against china. steel made in laraine and cleveland. more steel jobs. more aluminum jobs in two other communities, heath and sidney in ohio because of trade enforcement. he's trying to do that now with auto parts. china had $1 billion trade surplus with us ten years ago. now it is about $10 billion. that's because china cheats on this stuff. the president is stepping up on this stuff. we need him to do more. >> bill: people have accused him of playing politics in this election year but this has been -- it has been a consistent theme of the administration.

you've been pounding this drum for a long time in the senate. >> yeah. you don't put a trade action like this together, you know in six weeks. been working on it for -- since -- really since the first of the year since they put that task force together. that helps the agencies coordinate. this stuff is very complicated to come up. you have to prove -- you have to show real evidence that china is subsidizing production. how do you do that when you don't get cooperation from their government to show how much they're subsidizing energy or land or capital or what their cost of labor is and all of that. he's been working on this. the next thing i want him to do is help us push john bainer to pass our china currency bill. i've been working for years on this bill. we passed the senate bipartisanly. it would level the playing field. we're organizing an effort to put pressure on john boehner. i asked 20 of my senate colleagues to sign a letter after the bill is passed the senate last year to sign a

letter this week. we sent to boehner to ask him to move on it. people can come to my web site, sherrodbrown.com and help with us that grassroots effort to get that bill of legislation scheduled. if it goes to the house, they'll pass it. the president will sign it. >> bill: sherrodbrown.com is the web site. senator sherrod brown our guest. senator, "washington post" this morning, i have the article in front of me. the headline is u.s. chamber of commerce launches ads targeting main independent and democrats in montana and ohio. this is headed -- targeted right at you senator sherrod brown from the u.s. chamber. >> this could have been a front page -- two months ago. the chamber -- up to $18 million in television ads which doesn't count radio. i just went by an electronic billboard blaming me for high gas prices here in cleveland. it is the oil industry. they don't like me because of

our oil tax breaks and the chinese interests and outsourcing interests are spending money against me because they don't like my position on currency and the big banks on wall street are spending millions against me because they don't like my legislation to break up the six big banks. they're trying to buy the elections and we're fighting back in a grassroots way. that's why earlier when i mentioned sherrodbrown.com, come on and help us because we win this on the grassroots level as does president obama win ohio with the grassroots campaign. >> bill: this is citizens united making it all the easier. >> citizens unite and all of the other loopholes they've exploited. we've never seen an election like this where the koch brothers who are worth tens of billions of dollars another 20 million, it doesn't matter for them. this is not coming out of the republican senate campaign committee which is at least a little harder to raise and disclose. the money they're spending in this race, in my race against

the main race, we really can't be sure -- we can guess it's wall street. it is oil companies but we can't be sure because they never have to tell the public how much or what they're -- we know how much because we call the tv stations. we don't know how much on other things. >> bill: you're a fighter senator. you're fighting back and we'll send you all the help we can at sherrodbrown.com. thanks so much, senator sherrod brown. >> thank you very much bill. see ya. >> bill: thanks. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show."

>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. they're doing this this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>that's an understatement, eliot. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current it

this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. president obama out on the campaign trail for part of the day today. gets the briefing at 9:45 this morning at the white house's daily briefing then he heads down to woodbridge, virginia. probably helicopter down there. it's not that far. just down 395 right? on the way to richmond. he will be delivering remarks at an aarp life at 50 plus national event down there at the fitzner stadium. while he's there also be attending, speaking at a campaign event at 12:45 this afternoon. 2:00, he leaves woodbridge on his way back to the white house getting back at 2:30 on the south lawn. so that does mean they're taking that fast little marine i chopper back up. that's the president's schedule. we'll be back with democratic strategist patrick murphy.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey here we go on friday, september 21. hello, everybody. welcome to the "full court press" on current tv. good to see you today. and thank you so much for joining us here on the program where we tackle the big stories of the day in our nation's capital, around the country around the globe. tell you what's going on and give you a chance to get involved in the conversation. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. tim pawlenty, remember him?

republican candidate for president earlier this year. and national cochair of the romney campaign. he has quit the romney campaign in order to take a job as a lobbyist. you might ask why wouldn't he stay another 46 days before he left the campaign? because he knows romney's a loser! and he wants to be the first rat to desert the sinking ship. we'll get into that and a whole lot more here on today's "full court press." but first, our current news update today from lisa ferguson standing by as always in los angeles. hey, lisa, good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. here is something that we don't formally hear. president obama is taking mitt romney's words out of context. well, sort of. he's actually doing it on purpose, turning the tables on romney as a way to show how ridiculous and unfair that strategy really is. here is the obama campaign's new video mitt romney out of context. >> the american dream is not

owning your own home. >> too many shops too many jobs, too many people putting money in the bank. >> my exreefns in the private sector took me one to be head of a consulting firm that got in trouble. >> obviously the point here is to show why romney should not take the president out of context. that is a strategy that he's used many times but this video is in response to romney's latest trick of using a 14-year-old clip of mr. obama saying it's grees with -- he agrees with parts of redistribution. then senator obama goes on ta talk about the importance of competition and innovation in the market place. but republicans left that part out. romney is adding some events to his campaign schedule as a part of his new plan to get more of himself out in the public eye. he and paul ryan will take a three-day bus swing through ohio called the romney plan for a stronger middle class. and according to the fox news affiliate in denver, romney will be in colorado on sunday and monday. but we are still waiting on his campaign to release the details

of that trip. according to the latest poll, he is up -- obama is up in colorado right now 50-40%. we'll -- 50% to 45%. we'll be right back.

(vo) this is joy. >>who the heck does mitt romney

think he is? (vo) this is joy on current tv. >>if mitt romney treats his magic underwear the same way as his tax returns, then he's been going commando for the past 10 years. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 46 days left now. can you believe it? tim paw lepty -- pawlenty announced he's quitting the romney campaign to take a job as a lobbyist. do you think maybe he knows this train ain't leaving the station? good morning everybody. great to see you today. it is the "full court press" here on current tv. and on your local progressive talk radio station, of course if you're lucky enough to have one.

we're lucky to have you with us this morning. thanks for joining us here. booming out to you live from our studio on clim in washington, d.c. -- on capitol hill in washington d.c. ready to take your calls at 1-866-55-press. we're delighted to welcome to our studio this morning here at the top of this hour a neighbor on capitol hill and a democratic strategist, one of the best, patrick murphy. great to see you. >> thanks for including me. >> bill: thanks for joining the team here. peter ogborn and dan henning. henning is a nationals fan. >> i picked up on that. >> earlier this morning i picked up on that. >> bill: really subtle. cyprian bowlding, our accomplished video engineer here. i gotta tell you guys, this is so great. we saw patrick last -- peter and did i in charlotte. democratic national convention. you were very, very busy there among other things. hosting a reception for the

castro twins right? look, look at this. >> nice! >> bill: we'll hang it here in the studio. >> we'll put it up. that's cool. >> joaquin and julian. which is which? >> that's the same person. >> bill: no, no. >> they're identical twins. >> bill: they're identical twins. >> in the foreground, we have the congressman who is -- who is running for congress in that district and then the mayor behind him. >> bill: san antonio. >> how long have we been doing the show on current? four or five months? patrick, you're the first perp to bring us a gift for the studio. >> i normally bring m&ms but i ate them all last night. >> we've been waiting for this. >> bill: it reminds me back when tucker and i were doing the spin room, tucker carlton, the only guy that ever brought us a gift was neil anker abercrombie who is now the governor of hawaii. he always brought macadamia nuts.

>> i was going to say, macadamia nuts. >> chocolate covered. >> hawaii and guam, those are the gifts. >> we need a guest. >> bill: neil abercrombie. they did such a great job. i love it. joaquin introducing his brother. at the convention. >> julian has been doing a lot of voter registration work around the country. helping hispanics get register and get ready to vote for this obviously important election. they're quite the dynamic duo. >> bill: thank you. yes, indeed. speaking on the campaign trail we've talked this week about mitt romney's comments on the 47%. which got a lot of republicans saying -- oh boy i don't want anything to do with mitt romney. ann romney was asked yesterday by a talk show host out in iowa so what do you say to your fellow republicans? she had a pretty tart message here. >> what do you say to your fellow republicans who are -- >> stop it.

this is hard. you want to rye it get in the -- you want to try it. get in the ring. stop it. >> bill: stop it. >> stop it. >> shed a good job raising the romney boys because she just said stop it. if you've got five boys in the house. ibm five romney boys will be first in line for the war in iran that mitt romney is going to start. >> stop it. >> all right. >> bill: save that tape, will you, please? >> tape saved. >> bill: patrick here with us the first half hour. we'll be joined by matt butler, the new president of media matters for america. but first -- >> on this friday, other headlines making news. the breakdown of the ratings for the political convention are in and joe biden was the most watched convention speaker of both conventions. >> bill: no! >> by americans on television. >> are you kidding? >> no, i'm serious. the nielsen company compiled

every network including c-span that covers the convention, put them all together and -- >> bill: and current tv. >> the vice president was watched by 15% of americans who watched television. about 43.6 million people. number two president obama watched by 39.7 million people. in total. and the third highest rated speech, mitt romney. >> bill: no! bill clinton. where's michelle? >> i was thinking michelle obama. >> bill: and michelle. >> i'm stunned by that. >> bill: biden is a warm-up to obama maybe i can understand but still, bill clinton i thought was -- >> bill -- joe biden caught the most eyes. lady gaga has gained some weight and her fans are taking notice so she took to a radio interview yesterday to clear the air. the pop star admitted to new york's whtv radio she has packed on 25 pounds because she loves eating italian food cooked

by her dad who owns an italian restaurant. critics beg to differ. they think it is because of the amount of alcohol she drinks. she says it is the meatballs and she is working on a plan to drop the pounds. >> bill: i didn't know ga ga was an italian name. >> the prime time emmy awards are this weekend -- >> bill: wait a minute. you're wearing the nationals shirt. do the damn nationals story here. [ laughter ] >> the baseball post-season picture is starting to take shape. playoff ball returning to our nation's capital for the first time since 1933. the washington nationals beating the l.a. dodgers. former team, 4-1. >> for the dodgers? >> they guarantee themselves a playoff berth. now they need to win eight games. the cincinnati reds heading to the dance. they beat the chicago cubs last night. other teams in the hunt include the san francisco giants, atlanta braves new york

yankees, baltimore orioles chicago white sox texas rangers and oakland athletics. >> bill: wide open. exciting to have such a great baseball team here. unbelievable. love that stadium. love the nationals. >> if only more people cared. >> went to the game. >> bill: i promise that i will stay away from any more games. >> you're cut off. no more. we're shutting you down just like strasburg. >> bill: patrick looking -- we both have this political scene. looking at the -- some of the swing states this morning. nbc "wall street journal" which most people consider the most reputable trustworthy of the polls shows president obama up 5 points in colorado. president obama up 5 points in -- up 8 points in iowa. up 8 points in virginia. up 5 points in wisconsin.

what's that tell you? >> we should call the election for today. [ laughter ] let's do it today. let's get this over with. as a democrat, i can't stand good poll numbers. this is far out. >> bill: it does make. >> little nervous. >> it does. you and i have lived through some election nights that go way too late and way too long. >> bill: if you were part of the romney camp, what would it tell you? >> what do they have? they have five weeks to -- you know reboot again and again and get this thing on track. they have not had a consistent message and i will say the obama team has been focused and have said the same thing every single week, every single month. they they're building their ground game. the camp at the romney campaign doesn't seem to have gotten out of convention yet. they're still in gee, what happened there. look forward. what's going to happen next? >> bill: right. if you consider that romney has really one issue in which i

think he has some credibility because he doesn't want to talk about anything he did as governor right? can't talk about healthcare. and that one issue is jobs and economy. it's been a long time since we heard mitt romney talk about jobs or the economy right? it has either been his unfortunate comments are libya -- on libya his comments about the 47% his insulting the brits. he's just been offtrack. >> it is amazing to me that when you think about this country and how many wonderful things you can talk about and say about this country i mean if you talk about the 47% you know, who are those people? those people are everyone. those people volunteer. they get up early. they do boys and girls clubs. there are some wonderful things you can say. we have an pauline butler out in tucson gets up every week and

volunteers at the local hospital. she's 90 years old. why doesn't mitt romney talk about people like that that you know she may not be paying a lot of taxes but she's taking care of her community. the lack of messaging is just stunning to me. >> bill: the disdain for people who are not as wealthy as he. it really comes across. dripping out of every pore. >> bill: your first point patrick murphy, democratic strategist, our guest here on the "full court press." you can follow patrick's good work at three clickmedia.com. >> three click solutions.com. >> bill: back to democrats not taking this thing for granted. 46 days is a lot of time, right? >> lifetime in politics as you know. and so the last thing that they ought to do is say well, we've got this thing in the bag.

let's move on. >> everyone's nervous, i think. >> bill: plus with your work here in washington with members of congress, the other important thing is that getting democratic control of the house of representatives back has got to be on the table. either holding on to or increasing the margin in the united states senate. >> the senate is looking very good today. and -- but you know, each of these races each of these states, we always talk to people who are attorney general or governor and they're getting ready to run for the senate. even running for the house and one of the hardest messages to get across to previous officeholders even if they won statewide, they're not running a state race. they're running a national race. and they're running a race that has national issues in it. and where i think one of the big transitions is that you have to

pay attention to what's happening nationally because if you're running for u.s. senate seat, you're part of the one of 100 that's going to make national decisions and you know, the work that you did back home on prison reform or water conservation or whatever it might have been is important for your track record and for the people in your state but how you're being viewed nationally and what you say on those issues are key and these three to five point margins that we're up in some of the key states for the senate races, you know, i think they're very soft numbers. >> bill: and again -- >> everyone has to be so careful to get to the end of line. >> bill: you look at those from -- some of the key senate races. we just talked to sherrod brown in the last hour. sherrod brown is up in ohio. tim kaine up 8 points in virginia. tammy baldwin great candidate. good friend of ours up in wisconsin. claire mccaskill, of course, thanks to todd akin, right. >> a gift. >> bill: up there.

elizabeth warren up over scott brown in massachusetts. they had their first debate last night. some of these races they didn't expect democrats to have such an easy time then, right? >> no. i think a lot of states were written off early on. and you know, there are others. shelly berkeley is doing well. >> bill: joe donnelly in indiana. i saw him yesterday at the house. very strong candidate. i think he was up. he told me he was up in the latest poll. >> heidi in north dakota is doing extremely well. and then, you know, you have some nondemocrats, independent angus mccain of maine who is a breath of fresh air. i was at -- got to meet him yesterday and at the end of his prepared remarks you know, he did a -- sort of the ten-line quote from lincoln by heart. and we're all -- all of us in

the room are looking at him going we need this guy in the senate. i don't care what party he caucuses with. this is a tremendous candidate. >> bill: it looks like he would caucus with the democratic party, isn't that what -- like bernie sanders? >> he has said -- he has not committed. he's not had conversations with either mitch mcconnell or harry reid. so he is running for maine as an independent. he's staying independent. >> bill: when you talk to these candidates you work with and you know around the country and particularly when you get to the national issues, are republicans lining up with mitt romney and paul ryan? on all of the issues? >> not very quickly. [ laughter ] >> i think they're taking their deck chairs off the front of the titanic and trying to figure out where the aft is. i think they're running hard from the national ticket. >> bill: right. on medicare, on medicaid. on social security. on the ryan budget.

these are -- so lots going on. lots to talk about. mitt romney and the 47%. i want to ask you about what president obama said yesterday about you can't change washington from the inside. some republicans are saying that was a big gaffe on his part. do you really think it was? we'll take your calls. we always -- save a seat at the table for you here on the "full court press." give us a call at 1-866-55-press. we'll continue our conversation with patrick murphy coming up next. >> announcer: on your radio on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv. (vo) jennifer granholm ... >>for every discouraged voter, there are ten angry ones taking action. trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft. that is a whole bunch of bunk.

the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy.

it starts at $59 for the entire year for back up. put in code stephanie for your subscription. 18 minutes after the hour. it's go time. what time is it rob? oh, then it's go. go. go. go time. anybody? anybody? what time is it? oh, right. go time! >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey 25 minutes after the hour now here friday morning, september 21. good to see you and good have patrick murphy, democratic strategist in studio with us. we're talking 2012. patrick, i want to pick up on what we were talking about with the senate races. particularly important and house races. there is -- i've heard a fear -- i want to see if you've seen any sign of this on the part of some people, the romney campaign, if it doesn't get its stuff together as the big donors see the romney campaign, this is not looking so good that particularly the super pacs are going to shift their money from the national presidential campaign into these senate races. do you see any signs of that? are you worried about that? >> i think it is certainly a threat. i think there's sort of locked in money that the romney campaign's already spent. obviously they've done their media buys, hopefully long ago.

borrowed the last $20 million. but it's always the threat because you know, a million dollars in any one of these states is a huge impact. whereas from a presidential standpoint it's not much. you also look at how we've really have a national campaign that's down to 6 or 7 states. with the swing states. we're not spending any money in california. so it's pretty easy to shift that. but i think it's a possibility and you know we're seeing other -- the super pacs, republican super pacs stepping in where the republican national committee and the republican committee are stepping out. >> bill: sherrod brown was telling us he's seen $18 million pumped in against him by the koch brothers and by the chamber of commerce in -- that's just in ohio. $18 million. he's still up in the polls by the way. late say hello to tyrone calling from harlem, new york. >> caller: good morning, how are you? >> bill: all right. what's your question? >> caller: if a man can't run

his campaign if a man can't delegate authority to have people do certain things and then tell the truth about it, we don't need that. we need people that can sit down with world leaders we need people that's going to tell the truth and be transparent. and if you want to see my taxes can i see yours? >> bill: all right tyrone. i got it. there is a certain thing about when you run an incompetent campaign, what does it say about your ability to govern? >> i think it is a fair question and although we all wish washington worked as efficiently as most campaigns do but it doesn't. but i do think it raises a larger question which is why is it so hard for governor romney to talk about himself and identify himself and lock that in? it's -- if you have been in elected office, governor of massachusetts, you know who you are. >> bill: it is patrick murphy and it is

threeclicksolutions.com. thanks for coming in patrick. >> thank you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: it is 33 minutes after the hour now. here we go on the "full court press" winding thon friday. september 21. you've heard me say this before but i often get asked when i'm out on the road or here around town man you've got three hours to fill every day on radio and on television. how the hell do you do it? i make the point we do it with the help of two great organizations. think progress and you often -- every tuesday you'll see judd legum from think progress here

on the show. and also media matters. media matters for america. they do all of the hard work. they do all of the research. they churn out all of the stuff. we pick it up and use it. media matters particularly with its focus on the media. and our watch dog for the media for those of us on the left which we never had before. so we are so pleased and proud to welcome back to -- welcome into the studio, maybe the first time in the studio. >> first time. >> matt butler, the president of media matters. great to see you. >> thank you very much for having me. >> bill: big story this week. we have the monitors up here. so on, i'm always watching the morning shows on all of the networks including our own. interesting this week when everybody's talking about the 47% comment mitt romney made, 47% of americans are nothing but slugs and freeloaders. everybody is talking about -- except fox news. >> yeah. >> bill: yeah, right. >> it is an alternate universe

over there. they're covering something that the rest of us aren't really seeing. >> bill: or not covering. so they've gotta fill the time with other stuff though. >> bill: they just sort of decided this issue doesn't look good for romney so therefore it may be news worthy but it's not going to appear on our network. it appears that way. they make the editorial decisions. >> absolutely. it is a serious problem right? everyone else is covering this. it is clearly a huge statement. it is a huge gaffe for this campaign. a really, really tough week for romney. they're basically trying to cover it up with other stuff. they've been covering many, many other stories this week and giving minimal attention to it. and now what we're seeing with this redistribution video is they're trying to get away from the story. >> bill: so they say all right, we're not going to do the 47%. instead, we're going to go toward another video which is the video from 1998 talking -- where president -- then state --

snot even u.s. senator state senator, when you see that video, he looks like a teenager. >> so young. >> bill: he made some comment about that to a certain extent, he supports redistribution because all the money in this country seems to be going more and more to the top. he said that in 1998. >> sure. >> bill: this was an effort to redirect relaunch the whole narrative. didn't work, did it? >> it doesn't seem to have worked. this is a desperate attempt by the romney campaign and by fox to take -- to do anything to get the attention away from the 47% video. but the fact is we're still talking about the 47% video so it's not being completely and totally effective. >> bill: i haven't seen the rest of the media pick up on the redistribution video and make a big deal of it. >> actually they did at the very beginning so cnn abc cbs -- >> bill: at least they looked at it. >> they picked it up in the

context that drudge is actually the original source for this that drudge put it out. >> bill: yeah. i'm sorry, the drudge is not the original -- whoever the original source, probably the romney campaign -- >> drudge is the source where it bubbled up this week on tuesday or wednesday then did. so actually, nbc while i think chuck todd put the clip out the way that drudge had presented it nbc did put a hold on the piece and andrea mitchell actually acknowledged the story was out there. said we're not going to air the tape. now in another attempt to again try to keep the story on anything but the 47% you've got romney campaigning and other fox affiliates saying andrea mitchell is in the tank for obama because she didn't air the video. so you know -- anything to stay away from this story. >> bill: right. anything to change the subject. >> right. >> bill: peter we've got the clip. so yesterday president obama was -- had his chance to

interview with univision. and he said something -- now the romney campaign jumped on this right away and said this is worse than what romney said about the 47%. here's president obama. >> you can't change washington from the inside. you can only change it from the outside. that's how i got elected. and that's how the big accomplishments like healthcare got done. >> bill: so is that such a radical revolutionary concept? >> it doesn't seem like a radical revolutionary concept to me. it is an alternate universe over there. >> bill: what president obama was saying -- if you want action on any issue from this congress, particularly this congress, you gotta have a lot of pressure from the outside. >> absolutely. happens to be true. and what makes it most interesting to me is again romney immediately raised -- said how dare president obama say that. this is outrageous. he is surrendering. he is throwing in the towel.

back in 2008 when romney was first running for president of the united states, peter? >> i believe that, at this time, to change washington, it would be helpful to have somebody who comes with more private sector skill, experience outside washington. i don't think you change washington from the inside. i think you change it from the outside. >> bill: word for word! you don't change washington from the inside. it is just amazing. >> this is what they do. >> bill: they think -- what do they think? we're stupid? >> i think that maybe they think that people aren't paying enough attention but i think at the end of the day clearly the polls are showing that people do not trust this guy. they're moving away from him. they're sticking with president obama. you know, i think that's what campaigns do. is that you do see that the people -- they know what they're talking about at the end of the day. even if they're not paying attention to every single issue day to day. >> bill: how much daylight is there between fox news and the republican national committee? >> very little. very little. i think the question is it the

republican national committee telling fox what to say or is it fox telling the committee what to say? that's the question. >> bill: it is sort of like fox is the broadcast arm isn't it? >> that's exactly right. >> bill: and drudge? >> i think that drudge is kind of their nasty little brother. >> bill: all part of the same. >> absolutely. the same the right wing. >> bill: one other case, example, i guess of fox distorting the news is this photograph that they posted with president obama as so far no meeting has been arranged around the united nations. which i think starts next week. no meeting has been arranged between the president and prime minister netanyahu even though they have met countless times here in washington. so fox put up a picture of president obama sitting down with a pirate saying oh, he's got time to meet with a pirate but no time to meet with

netanyahu and indicated that this meeting with the president and the pirate had taken place -- when did they say? >> that day. yesterday. in honor of talk like a pirate day. >> bill: somehow i missed talk like a pirate day. >> i did too. this is the bounty of the internet gives us talk like a pirate day. >> bill: all right. what was the truth about this photo? >> the truth about the photo -- the story is apparently somebody found out it was at the white house or the campaign found out it was talk like a pirate day. they tweeted thought photo but the photo is from 2009. and but it's the photo of president obama and the pirate in full regalia. hook parrot. eye patch everything. and you know, they're sitting in the oval office. but apparently the photo was originally for a gag that went along with the correspondence dinner in 2009. and so they tweeted it out just yesterday though. drudge if taking any chance to go full broadside against the

president put it up there. tried to turn it into an international political statement and then fox and friends immediately picked it up as soon as drudge had it up there. >> bill: neither one of them mentioned this was a photo taken three years ago. >> no, they didn't. i'm not sure they did the fact checking. if you look at it, you can see that the president has not a single gray hair on his head so it had to be taken from quite awhile ago. >> bill: what i keep coming back to, peter is how did we do an entire show not knowing it was talk like a pirate day. >> i don't know. i take responsibility. >> bill: i was going to say. i think that's up to you and dan. yeah. that's your job. tell me what day it is. what day we should be -- you know celebrating that particular day. >> countdown begins now for talk like a pirate day 2013. >> bill: we'll be ready next year. >> only 364 days. >> bill: matt butler, president of media matters is in studio with us. we have time here? no. we'll do it when we come back and take your calls at

1-866-55-press. he's really in charge here. at 1-866-55-press. >> make you walk the plank. >> we don't want to start that. >> bill: join the conversation. no more pirate jokes please. join the conversation here with matt butler from media matters on the "full court press." action. trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft. that is a whole bunch of bunk. the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy.

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current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 14 minutes before the top of the hour. friday, september 21. we're talking media bias.

that means fox with matt butler who is the president of media matters. media matters.org. of course. check it out. several times a day. we do here on the "full court press." and we'll get back to your calls and comments in just a second. first, you heard us before. every friday, we like to salute somebody on behalf of granger who gets things done. and today we salute the washington nationals! damn straight. it is our baseball team here in washington, d.c. and they got things done last night. beating the los angeles dodgers. and making it for sure -- winning themselves a slot in the playoffs. so we're very excited about that. celebrating it all morning and we salute them this morning. the one who gets things done. brought to you by granger with over 900,000 products to help you get your job done. call granger click on granger.com or stop by one of

their branches. granger, for the ones who get things done. indeed. before we go to calls matt, one other -- area about fox news that has sort of come out thanks to media matters reporting on this, we see a lot of articles in the "wall street journal" about the campaign, op-ed pieces in the "wall street journal," the candidates go on fox when they want to make their point or they write if they want to get something in print they go to the "wall street journal." it turns out there is a big conflict of interest. tell us about it. >> we looked at a lot of the people who have been writing op-eds for the the "wall street journal" and you look at the contributors that go on fox news or even "the washington times." it turns out that a lot of them are paid advisers for mitt romney or like in the case of karl rove, is running you know, a quarter of a billion dollars super pac aimed at defeating president obama. and yet they never mention that when they go on fox or when they're writing their pieces for the "wall street journal." you know, these kind of issues of bias, it is important for the

reader to know that so they can assess what they're reading. >> bill: karl rove who is the big daddy of this crossroads -- what is it? $50 million or more. >> i think they're saying it is about a quarter of a billion dollars all the way across the board. >> bill: not to identify him as -- with that -- with that role. on fox. blatant conflict, right? >> right. and raising money for this organization. so is he going to go on and say the romney campaign is in trouble? absolutely not because then it is going -- >> bill: not that the democrats have anything comparable, the only one is priorities u.s.a. if bill burton goes on m snbc, he's identifieded a bill burton, head of the pro beam super pac. to put bill burton on it as an msnbc commentator letting him defend president obama without identifying him as tied to the obama campaign would be -- i mean --

>> negligence. >> it is the no even they're just reporting it. he's a paid contribute he were of fox. -- paid contributor of fox. it should be disclosed. >> bill: it is fox, the "wall street journal" and "the washington times." >> "the washington times." i'm sure it is a couple of other conservative things but those are the big ones we looked at media matters. >> bill: let's say good morning to paula from crest hill illinois. good morning. >> caller: hello. good morning. the reason i was calling today is i've taken the time out this week since that 47% video -- listened to fox news radio in chicago. i find the hosts stay away from the subject of it. but callers do call in and say that they agree with mitt romney for putting these lazy people on social security, welfare on notice. what's even hypocritical about this is the majority of their ads are for lawyers for social security, disability and medicare that if you've been --

fight the government to get it back. >> bill: yeah, well, there's so much hypocrisy out there i guess. were you saying that the hosts talk about the 47% or just ignore it? >> caller: they tried to stay away from the subject because -- at least it appears to me they try to stay away from it. there tends to be callers that are calling in saying on how they agree with it and how mitt romney is really showing who he is. even though is it mitt romney? was it the mitt romney from massachusetts when governor -- governor romney was governor of massachusetts that republicans called him the governor of tax taxachusetts. now it is very hypocritical. >> bill: it is. paula, thanks for the call. it is hard keeping up which is why we need somebody like media matters for america to stay on

top. >> the reason fox news doesn't take a lot of calls. >> bill: right. so overall, what is your -- impression of the coverage of this campaign so far? obviously fox news is kind of way out there. but for the most part, do you think it's been pretty fair? and balanced if i can borrow a phrase? >> i'm not sure. i think that it seems that there are -- there is a desire on the part of the media to keep this a real close horse race. i don't know that the actual state of the race is quite as close as it is being reported. you know, obama is ahead in most of the major states and yet they're like oh, it is basically even. i don't think it is exactly -- it's exactly perfect reporting. it is not terrible. i think that they want to try to make it closer than it is. >> bill: excellent observation. for the media they can't write this thing off right? they can't -- they've got six more weeks. they have to sell papers and get eyeballs or ears listening so they have to make it seem like a

horse race. and the other thing i would just add is that they have to make it like both sides were equally guilty. >> sure. >> bill: this phony equality. >> right. >> bill: which just drives me nuts right? >> right. >> bill: romney says something stun id yeah but look what obama said. apples and oranges here. >> probably why the redistribution video got any coverage at all this week even though they're completely apples and oranges. >> bill: because if they felt they had to make a pretense. >> an ah-ha video. >> bill: thank you so much for the great service that media matters is providing and thank you for your time coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> bill: have you back in again. >> that would be great. >> bill: mediamatters.org. put it up as up as one of your favorites. we'll be back with today's parting shot. thank you, matt. >> thank you bill. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the troops love me.

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. on this friday, september 21, my parting shot for today so this weekend's a battle of dueling gaffes supposedly. romney's 47% and obama's you can't change washington from the inside. there's only big difference. what obama said is true. what romney said is false. it's not true that 47% of americans who pay no federal income tax are deadbeats as romney claimed. it is also not true they'll all vote for obama by the way.

but it is true, as obama pointed out yesterday that you can't count on washington insiders to bring about major change because they're too entrenched in power. no, if you really want to bring about change in washington, you have to build pressure from the outside. that's what happened on healthcare, for example. president obama would never have been able to get the affordable care act passed without the help and the outside pressure from nurses and from consumer groups and from seniors and from labor unions and others. and that's true in good times and bad times. but especially true like it is today when so many members of congress have no backbone whatsoever. so once again bottom line, president obama speaks the truth and mitt romney tellin' nothing but lies. jennifer duffy from the cook report will take us through all of the important senate races on monday when we reconvene. democratic strategist chris is joining us as well. have a great weekend everybody. see you back here again on

monday.